What to Know About Hit and Run Charges in Texas

 Posted on December 31, 2024 in Criminal Defense

Anyone who is involved in a motor vehicle accident is required to stop to provide his or her information or render aid if someone is injured. It does not matter how minor the accident appears to be. You cannot keep driving even if you feel certain that no one is injured and there is little or no damage to the vehicles involved. If you are caught after leaving the scene of an accident without stopping to exchange information or render aid, you can be criminally charged with a hit and run. Depending on the severity of the accident, you might be charged with the lesser crime of failure to stop and give information or the more serious offense of failure to stop and render aid. If you have been charged with either offense, you need a highly experienced Houston, TX traffic crimes attorney to represent you in court. Hit-and-run charges can be life-altering if you are convicted.

Failure to Stop and Give Information 

If the accident you were involved in was fairly minor and no one was injured, you can be charged with failure to stop and give information if you drive away. In many cases, a driver who flees the scene after a minor accident would not have faced criminal charges beyond a traffic citation if he had remained at the scene. However, many drivers who leave after a minor collision do so because they are trying to avoid charges for driving while intoxicated, driving without a license, having drugs in the car, or other offenses.

If there were no injuries, you will usually be charged with a misdemeanor for leaving the scene of the accident. The problem is that there is no way to know whether anyone was injured unless you stop and make contact with the other party.

Failure to Stop and Render Aid 

If you fled the scene after an accident where someone was injured, you can be charged with the more serious offense of failure to stop and render aid. You can be charged with this offense even if the accident was not your fault. When you are involved in an accident where someone is injured or has been killed, you are required to stop and attempt to provide aid. Normally, calling 911 for the injured party is enough to satisfy the requirement to render aid.

Failure to stop and render aid is a much more serious charge than failure to stop and give information. You could be charged with a felony and sent to prison, especially in cases where someone could have been treated more successfully if aid had come promptly.

Contact a Houston, TX Hit and Run Attorney

Murphy & McKinney Law Firm, P.C. is highly experienced in defending people who have been accused of failure to stop and give information or failure to stop and render aid. Highly-qualified Harris County, TX traffic crimes lawyer Doug Murphy will strive to present the best defense possible. Contact us at 713-229-8333 for a complimentary consultation.